- You can change accountants anytime without current accountant approval.
- Every ABN entity (except sole traders) must nominate the new agent themselves in ATO Online.
- Agent nominations expire 28 days after submission; this is the most common reason switches stall.
- Linking a new agent automatically removes the previous one.
If you are looking up how to switch accountants, you’ve already decided, so this is the sequence rather than the sales pitch.
You can change accountants at any point in the year. Nothing in the ATO’s process requires your current accountant to agree to it, and one step is genuinely yours alone: the agent nomination, which expires after 28 days.
That expiry is why switches stall, not the paperwork. Everything else is a handover you can plan around your accounting services in Australia calendar.
Been meaning to leave your accountant for a year and still worried the books will break in the gap?
Can you change accountants at any time?
Yes. No rule ties you to a financial year, a lodgment cycle or a notice period set by anyone but your own engagement letter.
The query “can i change accountants” turns up constantly, and it usually carries a note of apology in it. Worth saying plainly: this is a commercial decision about a service you pay for, and it doesn’t need anyone’s blessing.
What does need care is sequencing. Change accountants in the wrong order and two things break:
- A BAS period ends up with no firm clearly responsible for lodging it.
- Your agent nomination expires while you are still waiting on records.
So the honest answer to “is it easy to change accountants” is that most of it is easy, and exactly one step is not. That step is the ATO agent nomination, and it is covered in full below.
What are the signs it’s time to switch accountants?
You probably don’t need convincing. Still, it helps to name the pattern, because most people who switch have been putting up with the same four things for a while:
- You wait days for a reply to a question that takes two minutes to answer.
- They appear at tax time and are silent for the other 11 months.
- Bills arrive that you can’t predict, often for the small queries you were told to ask.
- Your books live in a system they chose, and you can’t see anything in real time.
None of that makes your current accountant a bad practitioner. Traditional local firms are built around annual compliance, and if what you now need is monthly visibility and someone who calls you before 30 June, that’s a mismatch rather than a failing.
Cost sits behind most of these. If yours is really a pricing problem rather than a service one, what a tax accountant costs is the better starting point than a switch.
When is the best time in the year to switch?
Two dates in the Australian calendar do real work here, and neither is 30 June.
The first is the end of a BAS period. Switching accountants just after you have lodged means the quarter is closed, the workpapers exist, and nobody is holding half-finished figures. Switching mid-quarter is where lodgments get orphaned.
The second matters more. The ATO says that if you are using a tax agent for the first time, or using a different tax agent, you should contact them before 31 October to be part of their lodgment program. Miss that and you’re back on the 31 October self-lodgment deadline for the year.
TIPTip: If you’re reading this between August and October, the 31 October cut-off is the deadline to work backwards from, not 30 June. You need to be on your new agent’s client list by then, which means starting the nomination in good time rather than on the day.
How do you choose a new accountant and check they’re registered?
One check comes before everything else. Only a registered tax agent can charge a fee to prepare and lodge your tax return, so the first question isn’t about price or software.
The Tax Practitioners Board keeps a free public register, and it tells consumers to check the TPB Register or look for the Registered tax practitioner symbol. Search the TPB Register by name, business name or registration number before you sign anything. Make sure the registration covers the entity that will invoice you, not just the person you met.
If the distinction between the two titles is new to you, check they’re a registered tax agent walks through what the registration actually buys you.
Beyond registration, three questions separate firms in practice:
- Who is my actual contact during the year, and how quickly do they reply?
- What is included in the fee, and what generates an extra invoice?
- What will you tell me before 30 June rather than after it?
What does switching accountants look like, step by step?
The procedure for changing accountants runs to eight steps, and only two of them need you to do anything.
Read the table as a project plan: how to change accountants without a gap is mostly a question of order. The durations are expressed as drivers rather than numbers, because the elapsed time depends on your old accountant’s response speed and how tidily your records are kept.
Steps 2 and 5 are yours. Step 5 is the one nobody can do for you, and it is worth reading the detail below before you start.
How do you tell your current accountant you’re leaving?
Professional practice is that your new accountant makes the formal approach, so you don’t have to negotiate anything. What you do owe is notice, on whatever terms your engagement letter sets.
Keep it short and non-adversarial. You’re ending a commercial arrangement, not building a case, and a civil exit is also the fastest route to getting your records back without friction.
If you have been quietly typing “can i change accountants” for months rather than raising it, this is the whole conversation:
Thanks for your work on our file. We have decided to move our accounting and tax work to another firm from [date]. Could you confirm any outstanding fees, and provide our records to [new firm] when they contact you? We will authorise the release in writing if you need that.
Settle what you genuinely owe. Unpaid fees are the most common practical reason a handover slows down, and the questions that come up around exits are covered in the accounting and tax FAQs.
What is a clearance letter, and who sends it?
People searching for a changing accountants letter usually want one of two different documents, and it’s worth knowing which.
The first is your notice, above, which you write. That one is the changing accountants letter most people are actually looking for.
The second is the professional clearance letter, sometimes called an ethical letter, which your new accountant writes to your old one. It asks whether any professional reason exists not to accept the engagement, and requests your records for the handover.
Two things to be accurate about. It’s a professional obligation under APES 110, the code of ethics binding on members of CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ and the Institute of Public Accountants, and not an ATO or TPB requirement. CPA Australia’s guidance is that it should be sent when the incoming firm is assessing whether to accept you, not after the engagement is signed.
Here is the clearance letter your new accountant sends, in case you want to check they’ve done it:
Subject: Professional clearance, [Your Business Name] (ABN [number])
Dear [Outgoing Accountant],
[Your Business Name] has asked us to act as their accountant and tax agent from [date]. We have their authority to contact you.
Please advise whether there are any professional or ethical reasons why we should not accept this engagement.
We would also be grateful for the following, so we can take over without disruption: the last two years of financial statements and lodged tax returns; the general ledger and trial balance for the most recent completed year; the depreciation and fixed asset schedule; the franking account balance; details of any Division 7A loans; payroll and Single Touch Payroll records for the current year; BAS and GST workpapers for the current year; and copies of recent ATO correspondence.
Please confirm any work in progress, and whether any lodgment is currently outstanding or part-prepared.
Kind regards,
[New Accountant]
How do you nominate your new agent with the ATO?
This is the step that derails real switches, so it gets its own section.
Client-to-agent linking requires all types of entities with an ABN, excluding sole traders, to nominate a registered agent before that agent can act. Your agent cannot complete the nomination for you, although they can explain what you need to do. The ATO also doesn’t tell them you’ve done it, so the last step is messaging your accountant.
You need two things in place first. One is myID at Standard or Strong identity strength; the other is the business’s ABN linked in Relationship Authorisation Manager by the principal authority, meaning whoever is responsible for the business. Then, in Online services for business:
- Go to Profile, then Agent details.
- At the Agent nominations feature, select Add.
- On the Nominate agent screen, go to Search for agent.
- Enter your accountant’s registered agent number, select Search, and pick them from the results.
- Complete the declaration and select Submit.
- Tell your accountant it is done.
One piece of genuinely good news. Linking a new agent to an account removes the previous agent from that account automatically, so cutting your old accountant’s access isn’t a separate task. It works per account rather than per business, so replacing your income tax agent doesn’t disturb whoever handles your activity statements.
No self-serve button exists to remove an agent without replacing them, though. The ATO’s position is that you either nominate a new agent or contact them directly.
For the full walkthrough with screenshots, how to nominate your new tax agent with the ATO covers each screen.
What records should you get from your old accountant?
Work through this list rather than assuming a handover pack will be complete. The depreciation schedule is the one people miss, and rebuilding it from scratch is expensive.
Before the list, one point of accuracy. Registered practitioners must keep proper records of the services they have provided, including for former clients, under section 30 of the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024. The TPB’s guidance is that arrangements for recordkeeping and the return of client records should be discussed with the client when an engagement ends.
That’s a good reason to raise it in your notice rather than after the handover has stalled.
Your own source documents, meaning bank statements, invoices and receipts, you already hold or can get from the source. The list above is the work product that only your outgoing accountant has.
How do you transfer your Xero file and access?
Two jobs, and people routinely conflate them. Moving the subscription is a billing change; moving user access is a permissions change. Xero’s own documentation is explicit that transferring a subscription does not change who can get into the file.
Order matters, because Xero won’t let you delete whoever holds the subscription. So the subscription moves first, then the old accountant comes off as a user.
If your accountant holds the Xero subscription, only they can start the transfer, from their practice account. You can’t pull it across yourself. Ask them to transfer the subscription to you or to your new accountant, and note the invitation has to be accepted within 14 days.
If you hold it, add your new accountant yourself. Click the organisation name, then Settings, then Users, then New user. On business plans the full-access role is now called Administrator, not Adviser, which trips up a lot of older guides, and adding a user costs nothing.
Then remove the outgoing accountant through Settings, then Users, then the menu icon beside their name, then delete the user. They aren’t notified.
On bank feeds, the honest position is narrower than most guides claim. Feeds attach to the organisation rather than the subscription, and Xero documents no effect from a subscription transfer. What Xero does document is that a Yodlee-type feed deactivates if the user who set it up is deleted, and that you’ll need to set it up again.
So check who created your feeds before you remove anyone, and expect to reconnect if it was your accountant. Subscription costs also change with the plan the file sits on, and Xero pricing in Australia sets out the tiers.
What can go wrong when you switch accountants?
Most of the procedure for changing accountants is waiting. These are the five places it actually breaks, and each has a preventive action.
- The nomination lapses at day 28. Diarise the date you submit it, tell your accountant the same day, and extend before it expires rather than after.
- A BAS falls between two firms. Agree in writing which firm lodges the current period before you give notice.
- You miss the 31 October cut-off. Start the switch with that date in mind if you are moving between August and October.
- The depreciation schedule never arrives. Ask for it by name in the notice, and check it off before you close the file with the old firm.
- Bank feeds drop out. Find out who set them up before removing that user, and reconnect straight after rather than at the next reconciliation.
If a handover turns genuinely adversarial, for example a records dispute or a fee argument you can’t settle, that is a matter for advice specific to your circumstances rather than a checklist.
Do sole traders have to do anything different?
Yes, and it’s simpler. How to change accountants as a sole trader is the same process minus its hardest step, because the nomination requirement applies to entities with an ABN excluding sole traders. Your new agent adds you to their client list without a nomination.
Note the obligation attaches to the entity, not the person. If you trade as a sole trader and also control a company or trust with its own ABN, that entity still has to nominate even though your sole trader ABN does not.
What applies to everyone:
- Verify the new accountant on the TPB Register.
- Give notice under your engagement terms.
- Collect the records list above, minus the company-only items.
- Move your Xero subscription and access in that order.
The ATO frames the sole trader exclusion as the position “at this stage”, and client-to-agent linking has been expanded in stages before. Treat it as worth a check rather than an assumption if you are reading this well after publication. For selection criteria specific to your situation, choosing an accountant as a sole trader is the closer fit.
How Sleek helps you switch without a gap in your lodgments
Switching is the most common reason businesses come to Sleek. The work that worries you is the work we do repeatedly: the clearance letter, chasing the records list, and the Xero handover in the right order.
The one thing we can’t do is the ATO nomination, because the ATO requires it from you. Saying so is more useful than promising a switch with no work in it, and everything either side of that step is bookkeeping services and compliance running without a gap.
Switch to a fixed-fee Australian accountant.
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FAQs on how to switch accountants
Can my old accountant refuse to hand over my records if I owe them fees?
Possibly, and this is one to get advice on rather than assume. The Tax Practitioners Board’s own guidance on claiming a lien states that a provider of professional services such as a registered tax practitioner “may be able to claim a particular lien over client property for outstanding professional fees or charges”, and the TPB treats whether that right exists in a given case as a question of law requiring legal advice. Neither the TPB nor the ATO publishes a rule that a client is entitled to records on leaving. The practical answer is to settle undisputed fees early, because it removes the argument entirely, and to remember that your own bank statements, invoices and receipts are obtainable from their source regardless.
Can I have two registered agents at the same time, one for activity statements and one for income tax?
Yes. The ATO states that a business or organisation may nominate more than one agent to manage different tax accounts, and nomination works per account. It matters which account each agent is added against: an income tax agent has to add you using the business TFN rather than the activity statement account. If an existing agent takes on a new obligation for you, that needs a fresh nomination too, not just a conversation.
Does changing my accountant change my ASIC registered agent?
No, they’re separate appointments with separate regulators. Your tax agent is registered with the Tax Practitioners Board and acts on ATO matters; an ASIC registered agent is appointed to lodge company documents and receive ASIC notices. Changing one has no automatic effect on the other, and ceasing or nominating an ASIC registered agent is done on ASIC Form 362.
Can my new accountant fix mistakes in returns my old accountant lodged?
Yes. Registered tax agents can request amendments on behalf of any type of taxpayer, and no restriction applies based on who lodged the original return. The time limits are what constrain you: for small and medium businesses it is two years for the 2023-24 and earlier income years, and four years for 2024-25 and later, while other taxpayers have four years. The clock starts the day after the ATO gives you the notice of assessment for that year.
What happens to my due dates if I have overdue returns when I switch?
Being behind pulls your date forward rather than pushing it back. Under the registered agent lodgment program, individuals and trusts with one or more prior-year returns outstanding as at 30 June 2026 are due on 31 October 2026, and the same applies to companies and super funds in that position. An up-to-date entity that is a tax agent client sits at 15 May 2027 instead. So a switch is a good moment to bring overdue years up to date, and your new agent can lodge them.
Does my new accountant need my myGov or myID login details?
No, and you shouldn’t share either. The Tax Practitioners Board is explicit that a registered practitioner does not require access to their client’s myGov account to act on their behalf, and the nomination process exists precisely so they don’t need your credentials. Your myID is yours: you use it to log in to Online services for business and submit the nomination, which is what authorises your agent through the ATO’s own systems.
How do I check who my current registered agent is?
Log in to ATO Online services for business, open the Profile menu and select Agent details. That screen shows the agents currently linked to your accounts and is also where nominations are submitted, so it’s a useful place to start if you’ve inherited a business or can’t remember who was appointed. If you find an agent listed you no longer deal with, the fix is either nominating a replacement or contacting the ATO, since no self-serve removal exists.
